What Happened to Rand Paul?

image
Published: 15 May, 2015
Updated: 15 Oct, 2022
3 min read

Rand Paul was supposed to be a different kind of Republican -- a Republican who championed individual liberty, but who also did not wade into the culture wars or any war for that matter. He was supposed to be the Republican who could pull in younger and perhaps even more liberal voters frustrated by the lack of progress on civil issues.

However, the senator from Kentucky's campaign has been troubling to some who believed he would be a standard bearer for a new kind of Republican. Instead, he is campaigning like he is running to replace Sean Hannity.

Running to the right is nothing new in the early phases of the Republican primary, but if Rand Paul is going to be the general election contender he says he is, he is going to have to start building a broader coalition. And so far he is doing a terrible job.

If there is a chink in the liberal armor of California, it may rest in Silicon Valley. The tech Garden of Eden has earned a reputation as a libertarian strong hold, with many start-up companies having a natural aversion to government regulations and taxes. It is the perfect spot to campaign for anyone who might want to flex their libertarian muscles -- like Rand Paul.

But on a recent trip to the West Coast, Paul came out against the recent net neutrality ruling that affirmed that major Internet service providers (ISPs) cannot throttle or dilute service to companies or consumers for any reason. The ruling is widely believed to both level the playing field for young tech companies who are looking to gain a foothold in the market and protect consumers from spiking service prices.

When asked about is opposition to net neutrality, Paul changed the premise of the question and said:

"One way of fixing (spiking service prices), rather than regulating the Internet — let’s deregulate and get rid of government monopolies for the final end run, the final mile of distribution.”- U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

What is frustrating about this argument is that it reverts everything back to trying to prove a negative. "If there was no government, this wouldn't happen" is a common trope in many political circles, but it ignores the reality that of course there is a government and there are real world consequences to having a government.

Paul's position comes in direct opposition to not only young start-up companies, but major tech players like Google and Facebook -- and people are taking notice.

Shelly Kapoor Collins, CEO and founder of Enscient, a San Francisco-based science and technology firm, told the SF Gate that “Rand Paul and San Francisco go together like oil and water, and voters shouldn’t be fooled by his claims that he’s a ‘different’ kind of Republican. He’s just not.”

IVP Donate

This comes on the heels of a very bizarre couple of weeks for the Paul campaign. After Rand botched a response to Baltimore and gave credence to a wild conspiracy theory, a Paul staffer licked the lens of a videographer at a campaign rally. It is starting to feel like the wheels are coming off for the Rand Paul campaign.

Latest articles

Marijuana plant.
Why the War on Cannabis Refuses to Die: How Boomers and the Yippies Made Weed Political
For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American physicians freely prescribed cannabis to treat a wide range of ailments. But by the mid-twentieth century, federal officials were laying the groundwork for a sweeping criminal crackdown. Cannabis would ultimately be classified as a Schedule I substance, placed alongside heroin and LSD, and transformed into a political weapon that shaped American policy for the next six decades....
30 Jun, 2025
-
2 min read
Donald Trump standing behind presidential podium and in front of two American flags.
Has Trump Made His Case for the Nobel Peace Prize?
A news item in recent days that was overshadowed in the media by SCOTUS and the One Big Beautiful Budget Bill was a US-brokered peace agreement that was signed between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – which if it holds will end a conflict between the two countries that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of people....
30 Jun, 2025
-
7 min read
Picture of skyscraper in New York behind a bridge.
Knives Come Out Against Reform at NYC CRC Hearing as Independents Rise
Last week in Staten Island, the NYC Charter Revision Commission held its next-to-last public hearing. As Commissioner Diane Savino commented, addressing NYC's closed primary system “is the single biggest issue we’ve heard this year.”...
30 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read